


Bloodline

by madsinwonderland



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alice Cooper is only mentioned, Angst, Bughead Children, Domestic Bughead, F/M, Future Fic, Gladys Jones is only mentioned, Hal Cooper is only mentioned, dad jughead, family tree, mom betty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 07:27:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19352281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madsinwonderland/pseuds/madsinwonderland
Summary: Betty and Jughead have to explain their family to their daughter for a school assignment.





	Bloodline

Betty laid on the couch, rubbing her pregnant belly. She enjoyed the few hours of child-free bliss whilst she was pregnant. She loved her children, of course she did. However, as she was 7 months pregnant, she was easily getting headaches and tired all the time. Betty began to doze off, when she heard keys jingling at the front door and the kids chatting away excitedly. She heard Eloise talking loudly.

"And then the teacher got out the colored paper and we started to draw." The five-year-old said excitedly.

"That's great Eloise." Jughead repeated for the third time since he had picked her up from kindergarten. "What about you Thea? What did you do?" Eloise and Thea bolted to the kitchen, they both had the appetite of their father. Betty sat up slowly, and rubbed her eyes.

"We got a family tree assignment. We have to learn about our grandparents and stuff." Thea was hard to understand with a mouth full of food. Betty felt her stomach tighten. Betty and Jughead both locked eyes with each other. They hadn't told the two girls about their gruesome heritage. It was so quiet you would have been able to hear a pin drop.

"Why do we only have one grandparent?" Eloise broke the silence. 

"We'll explain when you're older." Jughead sighed at last.

"But I need to know for my assignment." Thea whined. 

"We'll tell you everything you need for your assignment, don't worry Thea." Betty said. Happy with that answer, the two girls went off to play. Jughead sat down on the couch beside Betty and rested his head in hands. He groaned loudly.

"What do we tell her?" He muttered. "She's ten years old, I don't want to have to tell her that her grandfather was a serial killer, and so was her great grandfather, that one of her grandmothers was poisoned by a cult, that her other grandmother is a drug dealer, the fact that you and I share a brother, and that her cousins are also her fourth cousins." 

"We don't need to tell her the truth about the twins, at least not right now. We can tell her about Hal, we don't need to get into detail." Betty said gently, rubbing Jughead's back in a circular motion. 

"We went to so much effort to keep this information from the girls. Can't we just write a letter to the school asking them to pardon her from the assignment?" Jughead scowled.

"You know we can't Jug. I know you just want to protect her, and you've done an amazing job of that, but she needs to know the truth. We only need to tell her a little bit. The rest of her assignment she can talk about her chosen family." Betty suggested. 

"I just wish we could have a normal family. I wish we hadn't grown up in Riverdale." Jughead mumbled. 

"I know Jug, so do I." She whispered. She pulled him close. 

"I don't want to scare her, or her class." Jughead said. Betty let out a soft chuckle.

"I think you'll be fine Jughead, she's a Jones, remember."

***

After dinner,Jughead was up in the attic, trying to fetch a couple of old photo albums for Thea's assignment, per Betty's request. The albums were sealed off in a box that hadn't be opened since they moved. They brought back old memories that they tried so hard to forget. There were photos from when Betty was a kid, when Jughead was a kid, from when their parents were younger. Thea and Betty sat at the dining table waiting for Jughead to get back from the attic and for FP and Jellybean to arrive. Since FP and Jellybean were the only relatives that were still living, and that Betty and Jughead kept in contact with, they had invited them over to help out Thea. Jellybean was the first to arrive. Jughead was surprised that she arrived early. She was usually late to everything, even more now that she was 5 months pregnant herself. 

"Aunty Jellybean!" Eloise squealed. Eloise had a liking to Jellybean, perhaps it was her name, or the bag of candy she kept in her handbag. FP arrived 15 minutes later with milkshakes for the kids, coffee for him and Jughead, and tea for Jellybean and Betty.

"I can't wait to not be pregnant anymore." Jellybean grumbled as Jughead took a big sip of his coffee. 

"You still have a while to go JB." Jughead smirked.

"It sucks now, but it's worth it, I promise." Betty said kindly. She knew that Jellybean was nervous to become a parent and tried very hard to make her less apprehensive, which Jughead wasn't helping her with. He's her big brother, it's in his nature. With their drinks in hand, they began to help Thea. They began with asking FP about when he was born, what his childhood was like (leaving out his abusive father) and what his jobs were (leaving out the alcoholism and jail time).

"You worked at Pop's?" Thea's eyes widened. 

"I sure did, I got free food all the time." FP beamed at his grand daughter's amusement. FP brought with him photos from his own childhood, as well as some from Jughead's childhood.

"You look just like dad!" Thea was astonished as she picked out a photo of FP from his teenage years. She picked out another, this time it was FP holding Jughead has an infant. 

"That photo was taken by Fred the day Jughead was born." FP explained to the curious ten year old. 

"Who's that in the background?" Thea asked. She was pointing to a women sitting on a hospital bed.

"That's my mom." Jughead shifted in his seat. He had never spoken to Thea about Gladys before.

"How come I've never met her before?" Thea kept asking questions that no one quite knew how to answer.

"She's very busy and she lives very far away." Jellybean said at last. She was careful no to say that she was dealing drugs that hurt and killed people.

"I hope that I can meet her one day." Thea said quietly. Nobody said anything. They didn't know what to say. She was only ten years old. They all moved on from talking about FP to talking about Jellybean. She talked about how she lived in Toledo for a bit but moved back to Riverdale. She talked about what her job was, a pediatric nurse, and how she met her husband. 

"How did you meet Uncle Ben?" Thea asked.

"I met your Uncle Ben when we were in college. He was getting his medical degree and we met up at another medical student's party." Jellybean blushed.

"JB, you do know that Thea can't use that in her assignment." Jughead sighed. 

"She asked, I answer." Jellybean whispered under her breath. Thea picked up a picture from Betty and Jughead's pile. It was the picture of Alice, Betty, Polly, and Hal.

"Who are all these people?" Thea gasped. Betty wasn't looking forward to that photo, but she knew that she needed to explain.

"That's my mom, dad, and sister." Betty mumbled quietly. 

"Where are they now?" Thea looked at Betty with innocent look in her eye. 

"My mom and my sister went away, and they got sick and they passed away. My dad did some very bad things and he's gone too." Betty was on the verge of tears. She hadn't thought about that part of her life for a while.

"What did your dad do?" Thea pried. Everyone was silent. Nobody knew how to answer. The terrors of the black hood were far to difficult to explain to a child.

"He killed some people. But you know that that is a terrible thing to do and you would never do anything right Thea?" Betty could feel tears rolling down her cheeks, but she wiped them away briskly. Thea nodded slowly.

***

Before long it was way past Thea and Eloise's bedtime. Her eye lids drooped and her head was getting heavy. Jughead scooped up Thea and tucked her into bed, and did the same to Eloise, who had fallen asleep on the couch, clutching the TV remote. 

"I better go. I told Ben that I would be home by now." Jellybean said as she got out of her chair.

"I'll go home too." FP added. They both said goodbye and thanked Betty and Jughead. The house was quiet once they left.

"Do you think that Thea was scared by her family?" Jughead asked Betty.

"Jughead, I don't think you have anything to stress about. Thea looked like she was enjoying learning about her family." Betty sighed.

"Are you okay though Betty? I know it was difficult for you." Jughead said gently. 

"Yeah it's just been a while since I thought about it." Betty murmured. Jughead pulled her in for a hug. Betty felt safe in his arms, it was as if nothing in the world could hurt her. 

"Mom? Dad?" Thea yawned as she emerged from her room. 

"Thea, what are you doing out of bed?" Jughead asked her.

"We spoke about all the other family members, but not you two." Thea said. Jughead felt a smile creep over his face. He and Betty led Thea over to the couch and sat her down.

"We met when we were kids." Jughead began. "Your mom, Archie, and I were the best of friends. We hung out together all the time. We spent every summer together. I fell in love with your mom when she gave me her sandwich because I didn't have one. I was very hungry, so thank you Betts. We were great friends. But as we got older we grew apart. Your mom started to hang out more with your Uncle Archie and I was alone. I still had a crush on your mom. I thought she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. When we were in high school, we started to hang out again before we started dating." 

"We graduated high school together." Betty added. "Then we went to college together, and then your father proposed to me. We got married, and then had you, and your sister, and your other brother or sister." Betty began to rub her stomach. Thea grinned. She loved listening to her parents when they were kids, and Betty and Jughead loved sharing the stories. 

"Can I bring in dads beanie? He gave it to me so its mine and its apart of our family." Thea asked. Jughead felt a sense of warmth. He loved that Thea wanted to bring in something that connected him to her. She was a daddy's girl, much to Betty's dismay. Eloise on the other hand, she was a mommy's girl. The two girls loved both of their parents however.

"Yes, but as long as you take care of it." Jughead told her. Thea was happy with that answer. She hugged each of her parents, who gave her lot's of kisses, and put her back to bed. She said goodnight, ans told them that she loved them. It melts the two of them every time. Jughead and Betty got ready for bed themselves. They brushed their teeth, and changed into their pyjamas. 

"Is it true that you fell in love with me when I gave you my sandwich?" Betty giggled as she took the cushions off the bed.

"When do I ever lie?" He smirked. They both crawled under the sheets, and Jughead wrapped his arm around Betty's belly. 

"We can't protect them forever Jug." Betty whispered. "We're going to have to tell Thea the truth eventually."

"I don't want them to grow up. I'm scared to let them grow up." Jughead said quietly.

"I know Jug, I'm scared too. But we can't shelter them forever. We don't have to tell her right now, but we're going to have to at some point." Betty sighed. 

"Can we just keep them our little girls for now?" Jughead murmured.

"Of course." Betty smiled in the darkness. "They'll always be our little girls, no matter how old they get."


End file.
